This was Elvis's last show ever, and it was done in Indianapolis Indiana. He seems in good spirits throughout the show, though there are points where he kind of walks through, of course with some of the songs you can't blame him. I wish I'd seen this show myself for one simple reason which I will save for when we come to it on the set list....
As all of Elvis's shows in the late 70's the set list begins with "C. C. Rider." The typical version is on this CD as well.
The second song on the list is "I Got A Woman" It's starts out in typical fashion as on the Elvis In Concert Album from 77, with Elvis doing the "Well, Well, Well," followed by the guitar riffs. You all know the routine. During this part you can hear a woman yell out "I Love You Elvis," which is typical in most concert recordings, however in this one Elvis is too focused on the building intro to answer her back...unless he waved to her of course. This is a good version of it, despite the fact that this is an audience recording. Hard to hear what he says when he's talking because of the type of recording it is. You can tell both him and the crowd are in a good mood, and as was typical in the late 70's he makes J.D. Sumner redo the bass part that trembled auditoriums all over America.
"Love Me" is another typical style from the late 70's with the audience sounds increasing due to the passing out of scarves.
"Fairytale" is not one of my favorite songs and it almost seems that Elvis has grown weary of singing it on this recording.
"You Gave Me A Mountain" gets a big response from the crowd, though I've met some Elvis fans who don't care for it at all.
"Jailhouse Rock" has Elvis stopping the band after the first line for reasons that can only be discovered by listening to what he says with headphones. He says, "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!" and the band stops and then starts again. Okay version considering the year.
"O Solo Mio / It's Now Or Never" is the next song. ANd it's the first song on the CD that found me wishing it was a soundboard recording instead of an audience one. But as far as audience recordings go, it's a pretty good one.
The next song is "Little Sister" and it's okay. It's very similar to the one on the Elvis In Concert album of 77.
"Teddy Bear" and "Don't Be Cruel" follow and there really isn't anything to write about these songs that hasn't been written already.
A nice change of pace is the song "Release Me." I don't know how often Elvis did this song in concert but it's rare based on the concert recordings I've heard in the past.
Bringing back "I Can't Stop Loving You" was a great idea for this show, and Elvis pulls it off well with a very pleasing response from the crowd both during the intro and at the end.
Now we finally arrive at the reason I wish I'd seen this concert. Indianpolis is only an hour from my home and I was 13 the year this concert happened, so I had no idea he was even close by. The song is "Bridge Over Troubled Water," the classic song by Simon And Garfunkel. I love this song and have read that Paul Simon loved Elvis's version of it. Elvis puts alot of effort into it at this concert too. It's great to hear it. I've been told that this is one of the most covered songs in musical history and I think Elvis is the only one who came close to doing it even better than Art Garfunkel did.
"Early Morning Rain" is another short version just to feature the rhythm guitarist. I always find myself wishing this song was longer for some reason.
Again another short version of "What'd I Say" to feature James Burton on lead guitar. It's done well though, with an awesome guitar intro.
"Some band solos are next. Drums (with orchestra), Bass (Bluesy riffs) and a nice Piano piece.
One of the most depressing songs that Elvis ever covered was the song "I Really Don't Want To Know." It's those typical lyrics that every man feels about some woman at some time in his life. Even though this song was written for women in mind as the target audience, I think it's a song that men relate to even more. It's also a classic country song. I love the way the woman's voice rises and falls during the studio version.
Elvis introduces the Orchestra and has them play a very interesting peice of short music. It's new to me, though I'm not certain it was that rare in his concerts for that year.
"Hurt" is belted out loudly with some great harmonies and is recieved well by a very pleased crowd. Someone once wrote that this song was a cry for help. I agree.
"Hound Dog" is done just like the version on the 77 CBS album, so if you've heard that one you shouldn't bother with this one.
You hear a chourus of "Oh no's" when the song "Can't Help Falling In Love" begins. Pretty typical of any Elvis show once it became obvious he was never going to replace it's position on the set list with another tune. I remember me and my sister reacting the same way when we saw him in 76.
Overall I give this CD 2 out of 3 stars. Keep in mind it's only because it's an audience recording as opposed to a soundboard one. You should also consider that this is a historic recording since it was the last show Elvis Presley ever did. I'm glad your gracious webmaster let me have this one to review. I'll always keep it and give it a listen now and again. And I'll always regret that I didn't get to see him sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" live. I'd also like to point out that I believe that the gospels songs were removed from this recording. I find it hard to believe he didn't do any since he was getting more and more into them on his live shows toward the end.
Elvisly yours....
Scott
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977